Good Article on OWS...

[simply dave]

I support the OWS movement, but I have said that their ire would be better served if they directed it toward the government. This article attempts to address that and does a pretty good job. It does however miss the point that the "1%" can and does sahpe policy/legislation via special interests/campaign contribution in return for favors.

Articles: OWS and the One Millionth: Right Feelings, Wrong Target

When you combine a lawless president who yearns to run America as Hu Jintao runs China with congressional Democrats who believe they are rulers rather than representatives and add a dash of Supreme Court justices who don't believe that their job is to interpret the Constitution as it was intended by the Founders, you end up with a soft tyranny that steals Americans freedoms.
OWS is right in that Americans should be outraged at the tiny minority who controls our lives. That minority is not the wealthy, however; it is that part of the professional political class who consider themselves rulers and not public servants.
The Founders intended for politicians to be average citizens who came forth and served their countrymen. Instead of average citizens who go to Congress as one temporary aspect of their lives, the one millionth is primarily made up of those whose lives, whose only experience, comprises politics and controlling the lives of others. They yearn to rule, not to serve. They believe they have the answers, so they need not listen to the hoi polloi.

And then this in a nutshell says it all...

We need to elect people in November who are, above all, honest. People who realize that if they want to drastically change America, they need to convince Americans not simply to use the Supreme Court as a new king to enforce unpopular doctrines on the people. People who wish to serve, not rule.

But you see, we've already been indoctrinated into calling our "illustrious" elected officials "leaders" and not representatives, yes? And of course in order to elect honest people, we would have to make an effort to scrutinize them...and that would simply take too much time away from our "American Idol" and "Dancing With The Stars", wouldn't it?

 

[Headholio]

I see OWS as a protest of the fact the average American citizen has lost his power in America, contrary to what the founding fathers envisioned. The protests can be at financial institutions or government buildings, and they have been at both. Either way, they send the message to our elected officials that policies crafted to favor the wealthy come with much disfavor among the voting public.

So, in that sense, I disagree with the article's contention that the OWS target is wrong.
I also disagree with one glaring statement in there, which happens to be in the part of the article you chose to pull out:

congressional Democrats who believe they are rulers rather than representatives

Do we have Republicans who act less as rulers than Democrats? I don't think so. OWS is making the point that all the money in this country has drifted into the hands of a very small minority. Republicans align themselves with that minority. They want to decrease taxes on those super rich while whining about the deficit. Republicans are against programs that will help average people, like funding of the jobs bill, social security and medicare. Romney's campaign will outspend Obama's, thanks to funding from the super rich who are simply buying Romneys vote to make sure that government will take care of the super rich.

So, I think the article fails here to try and align OWS goals against those evil democrats.

So despite the right wing slant (even with garbage about Obama's vison of socialist America)

the article is right that the Supreme Court has too much power and that Congress is acting only to preserve themselves and their parties, not in the interest of America or Americans.

With Citizens United, the Republican Court gave the rich the right to buy elections. So now, your dream, and many other peoples dream, to throw the bums out is harder than ever. Money is power, and the winner of elections is usually the guy with the most money.

What OWS will hopefully accomplish however, is to inform the public of just what exactly is wrong with the politics of the rich, so they may choose the lesser of 2 evils on election day.

 

[PICK3]

We need to elect people in November who are, above all, honest.

politicians + honesty = oxymoron

 

[musclemom]

politicians + honesty = oxymoron

Unfortunately, yup. I do believe many people go into office with truly altruistic intent but the very nature of the machinery of politics eventually drives/coerces/forces most if not all of them to compromise their values.